Bamburi, and Athi River Mining urged to end row, Kenya

10 April 2011

Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has urged Kenyan cement producers Athi River Mining (ARM) and Bamburi Cement to immediately settle their dispute out of court to allow other investors to start a limestone mining factory in Mutomo district.

Mr Musyoka said that the protracted dispute had not only made the residents lose income but also revenue for the country. "The factory will create jobs for the youth and fast track the infrastructural development in the area and help alleviate poverty," he added.

Mr Musyoka noted that Mui Basin had enormous mineral deposits including limestone that can be exploited for the benefit of not only area residents but the country at large. The VP said the delay due to their differences has stalled for years, thereby denying the residents and the country economic progress in that sector. "They must sort out their differences out Court and stop fighting over the land," he noted.

An announcement that Lafarge East Africa plans to build a major factory in Kitui brought to the open a simmering dispute between two of Kenya’s three cement manufacturers.

Bamburi Cement revealed in 2007 plans to extract limestone and other minerals from the site in Mutomo district, formerly Kitui South. (Edited report: Capital Business.)
Published under Cement News